Sharon Sews

"Leave a little sparkle wherever you go" - Anonymous Just doing my part to leave a little sparkle behind - along with some stray sequins - with my new pink sequin jacket. I started sewing the jacket the end of February but took a break when we had friends visiting.  We took a mini vacation to Waco (Magnolia Silos!) and San Antonio. Within days of our friends leaving to return home, everyone in the country was being asked to practice "social distancing".  With my slightly suppressed immune system we took the advise to heart. I choose to stop my weekly volunteer activities, and to not go to the gym to workout. Here we are just two weeks later. My gym is closed, the place where I volunteer is closed, my church is having services online, and my hubby is working from home. It feels surreal and I suspect you can relate. It's odd because when I want to stay home and sew I'm incredibly productive. But now knowing that I have to stay home I feel unmotivate...

My last make of 2019 was this princess seam top with statement sleeves! I wore the top, along with my sequin print pants, to dinner on New Year's Eve. (Review of the pants coming soon.)  Because we decided to go out to dinner only three days prior, I didn't have much time to sew something to wear. I don't know why, but I always think I need something new when it's a special night. At first I dug through my BurdaStyle magazines looking for a dress to sew. As I was considering a number of designs, I thought about where we are currently living.  A party dress would work in the metropolitan area we left behind but not so much here, especially at the restaurant we were going to. I'm so glad I choose to wear this top and pants instead of going with my original plan. I felt that I was dressed pretty casually, but I was by the far the most dressed up person in the restaurant. The pattern is Vogue 9243. It's an Easy Options pattern featuring a princess seam ...

Happy 2020!  I'm starting the new year - and new decade- by finishing some of my sewing WIPs. I had posted a YouTube video about two months ago sharing what I had to finish.  Figured if I went public I'd be more likely to finish.  Seems to be working as one is done! This wrap jacket is Vogue 8930 (and currently still in print). I love the BIG collar!  In fact, that's what attracted me to the pattern. The only drawback to this big collar it that is covers so much of the beautiful fabric. I'll probably scrunch it up more around my neck so it doesn't fall over my shoulder as much. Let's talk about this animal print fabric!  I bought it from Emma One Sock i n 2016.The poly/wool cheetah print was described as a "medium weight washable fleecy jacquard woven with a yarn-dyed cheetah design in rich and vivid tones of teal, mocha and black. It has a brushed, fleecy texture on the face and a flatter knit on the reverse, but the cheetah pattern is on both...

My Vogue 1643 fully lined jacket with faux leather contrast bands. The  pattern is intended to provide us with a replica of a Gucci grosgrain trimmed jacket, but I've never been a huge Gucci fan.  What?!? Yes, it's true. (And I feel as if I shouldn't even admit that to the sewing world.) However, I did like the shape of the jacket and since the pattern was chosen for the September "Sew Your View" on Instagram I decided to join in on the fun. The fabric I used was a polyester blend suiting fabric from SR Harris , that had a vague leather look. Since I wasn't going to use ribbon, I decided to make the contrast band in faux leather, and add faux leather piping to further emphasis the band. Well you know the saying about best-laid plans. Sigh. I underestimated the difficulty of stitching the faux leather piping as well as the faux leather bands. I've worked with faux leather before so I was perplexed as to why I was having trouble this time. I ...

Trends from the 1980s have been showing up on the runways recently, which means this is the perfect time for me to stitch up some of the 1980s era Vogue designer patterns in my collection! Like this oversized pullover top designed by Claude Montana. In the late 90s, during one of our moves, I gave my best friend two large totes filled with many of my Vogue designer patterns, including many that are now highly sought after from Issey Miyake and Claude Monanta. At the time I didn't see myself ever sewing them. Of course now I regret that as they are quite expensive when they can be found on Ebay or Etsy, sigh. Fortunately she loaned this one to me before we moved so I could sew myself one for our Texas summers! She's still searching through her vast pattern collection to find another Vogue Montana pattern I'd now like to sew. The top I'm wearing in this blog post is from Vogue 1566, a Vogue Individualist design that was released in 1985. The Instagram hasht...